Is there really no failure in sports?

The Miami Heat eliminated the East No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo on Wednesday night and, of course, the media world’s foremost HEAT CULTURE experts, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, had some things to say.

Pablo starts by noting that it looked like the Bucks were trapped in one of those dreams where everything was slippery, as they were falling down, turning the ball over and the Heat were in EVERYTHING. The Bucks just kept throwing everything away, and so to went their season. In the postgame press conference, Giannis made some interesting comments that have the sports world talking.

The key takeaway from Giannis: There is no failure in sports, you don’t always win.

Pablo said he loves these bits of postgame press conference theater, when things are still raw and when players like Giannis have to figure out what the message is that they want to send to their audience.

David points out that if you asked Michael Jordan, he would say that he had nine years of failure. David says that Giannis was prepared for this question and did a great job answering it — in his second language, no less — so he wants to separate the answer from the man. David says Giannis’ answer was problematic to him as a front office executive or as a fan even if his answer and the way he did it he has great respect for.

David says that to say that Giannis looks like he was trying to come off as this season being a building block toward next season. But, David asks, is that a true success? No, that’s a failure but we don’t want to admit that. What Giannis did here it’s not the rawness that got to David, it’s him lying to us. David doesn’t think he believes what he said, he doesn’t go home today and say “Wow, that was a good series.”

Mike points out that while Pablo called Giannis’ response raw, to him it sounded like the answer was premeditated and calculated for over year. Pablo says the rawness is from the quest to convince himself that his answer is true. Pablo says he believes that Giannis is like any of us being put in a position where they are asked to reflect on something that went horribly and spin it into something positive. The rawness, he says, is a professional athlete trying to relate to a reporter, to a normal person, so that they can both reach a place of contentment about something that went so disastrously. It is human, and that reads to Pablo as raw.

Jessica chimed in that if this question were about anything other than the outcome of a sporting event she would be 1,000 percent on board, because there is gray area in life and you can spin positives out of negatives. However, in sports there is literally a winner and a loser, it is binary. And that is how we calculate failure. Is there really no failure in sports? Yeah, there’s failure in sports, Jessica says, failing is losing. As a fan, she says, you can look on the bright side, but when you’re a player you either win or you lose. You win the Super Bowl you’re winning, everyone else has failed.

David relayed a story that at the first owners meeting after the World Series you give applause to the owner who won the World Series — there are 29 people in that room who are failures and know that they are failures because they did not win a title. Pablo argues, however, that what Giannis is saying is reflective of his own voyage through mental health. Pablo admits that the mental health aspect of this does not insulate him from criticism — of course, there is failure in sports. What it is though is an excuse to realize that what Giannis is trying to do is to turn his job into something that he can manage in a way that we can relate to. David, however, claims that the way players react to losing — in his personal, first-hand experience in baseball — is way different from the way fans react to losing.

Meanwhile, Max Strus, Erik Spoelstra and the Heat were all of us on Wednesday night ...

Check out the breakdown of Thursday’s show below.

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Local Hour: The Greatest Player In The Series

• It’s a totally calm and rational Local Hour without any hyperbole. Speaking of: Is Jimmy Butler a better Heat player than LeBron James?

The Big Suey: Answering For Michael Jordan

• Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke about sports and failure postgame, and the question came from Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Eric joins us to discuss Giannis, his season, and the balance of professional expectations vs. success. Then, David and Pablo lead a conversation on Tucker Carlson after his first statement post-firing. Plus, Aaron Rodgers is a New York Jet, and his introductory presser was...something.

Hour 1: Stats In Yo’ Face

• Tom Haberstroh is here full of stats that prove what we already know about Jimmy Butler and the Heat...GREATNESS runs through Miami. Then, David is frustrated with current Knicks fandom for over-celebrating, and we have to explain baseball history to him. Plus, we still don’t know who stole the fine bucket money and discuss the real impact of home court advantage.

Hour 2: Heat-Knicks Preview Hour

• Max Strus joins the show marvel at the brilliance of Jimmy Butler just like the rest of us, and we ask him about his college’s creepy mascot, Bedcheck Charlie. Then, it’s the Knicks’ turn as Charles Oakley is here to chat about the Knicks success this season, what he’d do to stop Jimmy Butler, and more. Plus, we talk NFL Draft as we reminisce on the 2020 COVID-restricted draft.

Postgame Show: Carry On Jalen Brunson (Taylor’s Version)

• Our video producer Taylor has a gorgeous parody song paying tribute to Jalen Brunson. Plus, what’s the first physical characteristics you notice when you meet someone? Is it shoulder hair?

Watch more below!

VIDEO:

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